An ad campaign which can’t possibly be ignored given the present train of obsessions. Andrés Ramírez photographs a collection of tight packages for underwear manufacturer, Macho. I’m not sure what a group of Roman gladiators would be doing sparring in what appears to be a Bollywood boudoir like the one in Moulin Rouge! but, ya know…underwear and swords… Consistency is the hobgoblin of fevered imaginations.

Waned?! Never! To be honest it wasn’t much of an obsession until I started things off a couple of years ago with a post of nude French fencers. Then I realised that a) I liked the look and b) there was a lot of this stuff about.

I did notice Mr Peacay’s post actually. The rules of the obsession (such as they are) mean that the men have to be at least shirtless, if not fully nude, so his combatants are excluded. I did see scans of another book recently which I may post here if I can find it again. This showed similar engravings for duelling instruction only with naked swordsmen. Quite gruesome too since there was a lot of stabbing and running through with the blades. Certain Japanese fetishists would love it, I’m sure…